Doctor Who story editor Donald Tosh on his contribution to the Time Lord's series in 1965-66

00:01, 21 Sep 2014

Updated 11:54, 6 Oct 2014

ByKenny Smith

SCOTTISH story editor Donald Tosh discusses his work on Doctor Who, where he was in charge of commissioning stories and working with their writers.

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Donald worked on 'Mission to the Unknown', the second story of Season 3 of Doctor Who

SADLY, only a handful of episodes from Doctor Who’s third series currently exist in the BBC archives, depriving fans the chance to see the majority of Donald Tosh’s work on the series.

The Scot, story editor on the series from 1965-66, was in charge of commissioning stories and working with their writers, to get adventures on screen for William Hartnell’s original Time Lord.

Most disappointing of all is the loss of Donald’s greatest contribution to the series, four-part story The Massacre, is completely missing. He ended up completely rewriting the submission from another scribe.

Donald explained: “John Lucarotti sent in a script, and he hadn’t had any time to do his research, which was very unlike him. He had missed the whole point of the story, and everything else that was going in.

“It’s a period I know quite a bit about, with the Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve. I told John a lot of what he had written was rubbish, we had a huge great row, and I told Johnny we’re going to have to commission a new story. But he said, ‘No, we’ve got to do it, that’s what we’ve committed too,’ so I had to go away and rewrite it from page one.

“Bill Hartnell was a good actor, and I wanted to give him something different to do. I gave Bill a doppelganger story where I got him to play the Abbot of Amboise, not just the Doctor. He had great fun doing it, as he wasn’t having to learn all the usual scientific lines, as he had to do as the old man.

“As a result of that, when he came back to playing the Doctor, his performance had really improved. I thought it work brilliantly, and it’s one I’m still very proud of. It’s such a shame that the BBC no longer have it.

“I do hope that some day, someone will find a copy of it - lots of episodes have turned up over the years.

“But at the time, videotape was very expensive, so when an episode had been made and transmitted, they would make a copy of it onto film, which they would then sell abroad, to places like Australia and New Zealand.

“We would reuse the videotapes ourselves to record new episodes and stories over the top of them, but that was just the way we worked at the time.

“I just hope that somebody will find The Massacre at the back of their cupboard - it would be marvelous to see it again.”

Donald worked on Doctor Who adventure "The Ark" - You can see handmaidens surrounding the latest of the Time Lord's enemies "The Monoid"

With the Doctor escaping from France, the next story was The Ark, set in the far future on the day the Earth was destroyed by the sun. Thankfully, these four episodes exist and are available on DVD.

Donald said: “Johnny and I wanted to do something different with Doctor Who - a lot of people think of Doctor Who as being about monsters with the possibility of strange creatures like Daleks and Cybermen. We didn’t want it to be only associated with those.

“I was very keen on the historicals, while Johnny was more keen on stories set in the future. I would work on the historicals, while Johnny kept an eye on stories set in the future, like The Ark. I would have my fourpence worth on it and give them my thoughts when we were having our discussions, though. But it was very much Johnny’s baby.”

At this time, William Hartnell was becoming more difficult to work with, due to the onset of arteriosclerosis, which would ultimately cause him to leave the role within a few months.

Donald explained: “The funny thing about Bill was that he had got very crotchety and there were times when he was really rather difficult.

“He was such a good actor - let nobody every tell you any different - and I knew his work well, which was why we got on.

“When we first met, I told him how much I had enjoyed his work over the years. I had seen him give some wonderful performances in this that and the other - I’d seen him on the stage, on film and on television.

“I thought he was lovely, and when he was being difficult on set, I’d sometimes get a message saying, ‘Can you come down and speak to the old man?’ At the time, he was finding it very difficult with the scripts as he was unwell, which was why he eventually left.

“But by the time I left, I’d left behind the idea that the Doctor could change his face - you would have the camera on one actor and then you’d blend their faces together and the new man would take over, and because they’d seen it, the audience would accept it.”

The final adventure which Donald worked on was The Celestial Toymaker.

Donald's last episdoe, "The Celestial Toymaker"

He explained: “My last story was The Celestial Toymaker, and it wasn’t a happy experience. Johnny thought it was a really good idea, as it was different and he felt it was the kind of things we should do. I was keen to do it, but it was very, very dark. Johnny suggested I took it home and wrote it myself, so I did.

“I brought in two characters, a scary aunt and uncle in charge of games, and I thought I called them Charlie and Margery after an uncle and aunt of mine

“But then I thought, ‘I can’t do that. If the family hear about it, it could cause terrible trouble.’ So, I thought of George and Margaret. That was the name of a play written by Gerald Savory, who was the new Head of Drama Serials. I told him what I was doing, and when I’d finished, Johnny was pleased with it. Then, I went away for six weeks.

“I had been working flat out on Doctor Who for quite a while and I needed a break, as I’d only had something like a week off in the previous year.

“When I got back, I decided to leave and was not going sign the new contract with the BBC. I went into the Doctor Who office, and I was given the scripts for The Celestial Toymaker, and were totally different. There was no George and there was no Margaret!

“The new story editor Gerry Davis said Gerald hated what I’d done with them and because he couldn’t get hold of me, had rewritten them. . I hated them.

“There was still some of my dialogue left, and the Trilogic Game was mine, along with the Doctor being invisible. But it was turned into a pantomime. And I wanted my name taken off it too.”

Donald continued to work in the broadcast media for a short time, before leaving the industry.

He said: “After I left Doctor Who, I went to Southern and did various other things - including a creative writing for television course for adults at Goldsmiths College.

“Then the BBC came knocking at my door, asking me to come and make Sherlock Holmes with them, but that was a very unhappy time for me.

“I left television and joined the Ministry of Works, which looked after the ancient sites like Stonehenge.

“I needed a job, and ended up at Sherborne Castle, then at the beginning of the 70s I went down to Cornwall and looked after St Mawe’s Castle, which I ran as my own private fiefdom! I virtually lived on the premises and had a wonderful time. I loved looking old buildings and writing the guidebooks.”

Television scriptwriter Donald Tosh, who worked on Doctor Who in the sixties

Looking back, Donald admits that his association with Doctor Who is something he is still very proud of.

He smiled: “I think Doctor Who was probably the happiest time of my years in television. I enjoyed being challenged and being stretched to make things work.

“I thought Doctor Who improved a lot towards the end of its first run on television with Sylvester McCoy. They had a clever young script editor in Andrew Cartmel, and they brought new and proper life to it.

“Unfortunately, though, I think they had already decided Doctor Who had had its day, and they took it off.

“But I do enjoy it now. I enjoy the jokes and the humour that underlines everything.

“It’s much darker these days, but it really challenges the mind much more than a lot of things they did after I left. It’s what Johnny and I wanted to do all those years ago.

“I wanted it to be more appealing to teenagers, rather than just eight-year-olds, as it’s far more intelligent. It’s virtually an adult programme.

“Now, they spend a lot of money on it, when back in the days we just had 3/4 of the budget of normal drama because we were ‘just’ a children’s programme. We were always short of money, but I think we did pretty well considering.”